This photo was taken from the Songhees, or Lekwungen, Reserve in Esquimalt, looking back towards downtown. At the far right in place of the Empress Hotel you'll see a bridge. That was once an area of mud flats that would not be filled in until the beginning of the 20th Century.

This interesting building on the corner of Douglas and Yates was once home to a drug store, occupying an important commercial spot in downtown Victoria. It's impressive that the building has survived, housing a Mac's today, though many of the original Victorian-era exterior stylings have been removed.

A streetcar trundles down Douglas Street. City Hall can be seen in the distance.

A group of men and boys pose on the steps of the newly opened Parliament building in 1898.

This photo shows the tugboat the S. S. "Point Ellice," digging in the harbour to deepen it for more extensive use in 1914.

In 1915 the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German U-Boat, killing hundreds of Canadians, including some from Victoria. New recruits training at Willows Park in Oak Bay came into Victoria and began smashing the windows of German businesses, including the hotel seen here, which had been known as the Kaiserhof. A mob quickly formed and smashed the windows at several other businesses known to be owned by Germans, or with German sounding names. Eventually the police were able to get the situation under control, and nobody was injured in the riot.

The 48th Battalion departs for Britian to join the war effort on July 1, 1915.

A group of men from the 103rd Battalion trudge through the snow past City Hall during the so-called Great Snow of 1916. They are carrying supplies with them on sledges. The men would have been training in Victoria before being sent to fight in France.

In February 1916 Victoria was hit by a total of 46.2 inches of snow, throwing the normally mild city into chaos. This snowfall held the record until Victoria's blizzard of 1996.

Built in the 1880s, this historic hotel is a fine example of the Victorian Era Italianate style. It was one of the first hotels in this part of Victoria, and remained one of the most prominent throughout the decades of economic expansion that would come to an end in the early 1910s.

A Float plane docks at the Victoria Harbour in 1931. During this period only seaplanes could land in Victoria as the first airstrip would not open until 1939.

A light field gun mounted on a truck parades up Government Street as curious onlookers watch from the sidewalks.

This wartime photo shows the Victoria Girls Drill Team posing for a photo on the steps of the Legislature.